


the first checkmate

by mollivanders



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-18
Updated: 2012-04-18
Packaged: 2017-11-04 12:00:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/393615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mollivanders/pseuds/mollivanders
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two days after Halloween, Ron remembers he hasn’t finished his History of Magic essay due Monday (sixteen inches!) and drags himself down to the Common Room, figuring he’ll finish it by the time Harry’s done with Quidditch practice.</p><p>But when he gets there, he sees her sitting by the fire, brown bushy hair obscuring her face as she scribbles at a furious speed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the first checkmate

**Author's Note:**

> Fandom: Harry Potter  
> Rating: G  
> Characters: Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter  
> Author's Note: Word Count - 1,166. Missing moment from _Philosopher's Stone_. You can't help be friends after facing a giant troll, but someone has to take the first step.  
>  Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Two days after Halloween, Ron remembers he hasn’t finished his History of Magic essay due Monday (sixteen inches!) and drags himself down to the Common Room, figuring he’ll finish it by the time Harry’s done with Quidditch practice.

But when he gets there, he sees _her_ sitting by the fire, brown bushy hair obscuring her face as she scribbles at a furious speed. Even from here, Ron can see she’s clearly written more than she has to. For a second he wishes Harry were here so he could point it out, and then feels a twinge of guilt about the troll. Again.

At least she wasn’t hurt, Ron tells himself, and since he doesn’t want to sit anywhere near the twins and their game of Exploding Snap (his eyebrows have only just grown back), he walks straight over to Hermione Granger and asks, “This seat taken?”

Her head bobs up in surprise and he can’t blame her for the alarm on her face before she smiles awkwardly at him.

“No, it’s fine,” she says, and moves her pile of books (they didn’t _have_ to read that many, right?) to the other side of the table. He sits across from her, feet grazing the floor as he swings them, and since Hermione doesn’t seem intent on talking to him, digs out parchment and ink, and opens his book.

What _did_ Professor Binns talk about?

Staring at his empty parchment and wracking his brain about the importance of the Goblin Treaty of 1327, the back of his neck prickles. He looks up to find Hermione Granger staring at him across the table.

“What are you working on?” she asks curiously, like he might make another joke. Ron can’t blame her, but his mind feels as blank as his parchment right now.

“History of Magic essay,” he says and of all things, he did not expect her face to break in to a grin. 

“Oh, wasn’t Professor Binns’ class fascinating? It’s so interesting learning about wizard-goblin relations and how far back they go! I wonder if wizards have gotten any better at keeping their word though,” she says with a frown, and Ron barely has time to be astonished anyone could find this _interesting_ before she plows on. “I’ve done some more reading on it and it does seem the goblins weren’t much better, but someone has to take the first step.”

Ron clears his throat, suddenly wishing he knew something about goblin rebellions, but too late – Hermione’s face had fallen again.

“You don’t care about History of Magic much, do you?” she says, and there’s that prim note in her voice that riled him up during Charms Class. There’s a sharp retort on his tongue but Ron catches himself and says instead, “I like other things.”

“Like what?” she asks, like she actually wants to know, so Ron puts his quill down (it's dripped a large spot on his parchment) and sits higher in his seat.

“Oh, you know,” he says. “Wizard chess.”

“I’ve never played,” Hermione says, but like everything she seems about to ask a thousand questions and Ron’s already been through this with Harry.

“Harry says it’s just like Muggle chess, but it’s not, really,” Ron says. “Unless the Muggle pieces can talk to each other and learn strategies and knock the other pieces around a lot. One time my knight broke another piece in half when he threw it off the board.”

Then he remembers she’s a girl and thinks he might have put her off with that violence stuff, but instead she just rests her chin on her hand and waits, like he should keep going, so he does. “I guess the moves are the same,” he concedes, “but it’s really different. Dad brought a Muggle set home once and it was so boring, Fred and George chucked the pieces out with the gnomes.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he notices the aforementioned twins are watching him intently, and he wonders if they’ll tease him later for talking to a girl. For once, he just decides to ignore them.

“Do you have a set?” Hermione asks, with that look in her eye he’s noticed in class, and Ron nods. “You want to play?” he asks before he even thinks about it, and adds, “I’ve had the pieces for years. You should really have your own set of pieces, you know, if you really want to play.”

“Don’t you have your essay?” Hermione asks, and Ron looks down at his homework, belated guilt creeping in. He said he’d finish this first, and then hang out with Harry after practice, but…

“I’ll just get my set,” he says and Hermione smiles that nervous smile again – honestly, he’s not that bad. When he gets back, she’s already cleared her books off the table (probably do her some good, a break, he justifies to himself) and watches while he sets up the pieces.

If he’s honest, she’s terrible. Worse than Harry.

On the other hand, he learns that Hermione Granger is not just bookish – she’s stubborn. Three games later she stops his first check, and he makes a note not to underestimate her.

(He forgets, of course.)

When Harry finally gets back from Quidditch, for a second Ron thinks maybe he should just pack up the pieces, but Harry wanders over and sits next to Ron.

“How was practice?” Ron asks, intent on the game – his knight knocks over Hermione’s rook and she makes a frustrated noise that makes him grin.

“Very wet,” Harry says, shaking the rain out of his hair, and Hermione looks at them, curious, before returning to the board. It’s very serious business, wizard chess, Ron thinks.

“Brought some Cauldron Cakes from lunch,” Harry says, and there are four, but they split all right, and when Hermione collects the stash of Halloween candy in her room (dentists for parents, it turns out), Harry takes Hermione’s place and loses by the time they finish the candy. Ron’s eyes keep sliding to his homework in the corner, but he figures it's a lost cause tonight.

Before Ron realizes it, the sun’s gone down.

“Dinner,” Fred says, walking by and ruffling Ron’s hair so he twists away and knocks over a disgruntled bishop who shakes his fist at Ron when he’s righted himself, and Hermione laughs as the pieces entreat Harry to make Ron treat them better.

“You never did your essay,” Hermione says reproachfully and Ron shrugs. "I'll do it tomorrow," he says, packing up his unfinished homework and leaving it next to Hermione’s giant stack of books. It should be plenty safe there, he decides. Who else would want to read that much?

As Harry and Ron head for the portrait hole, Ron looks back to see Hermione still at the table, unsure, and Ron feels magnanimous for the words that come out of his mouth.

“Coming then?” he asks, and Hermione’s face lights up.

“Sure,” she says, and follows them out.

_Finis_


End file.
